by Marie Antonia Parsons

Created on: December 10, 2009

The Abbasid caliphate ruled over the Islamic empire from 758-1258. It was preceded by the Umayyad dynasty which claimed descent from Mohammed’s own family, and was and followed by the rule of the Seljuk Turks.   Western culture is most familiar with the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, and the tales such as Aladdin, told during his reign.

At the start of the Abbasid dynasty, more than one hundred and twenty years had passed since the followers of The Prophet had migrated from Mecca to Medina. After the Prophet’s death, questions over who would succeed him arose, sowing seeds for the later split between Sunnis and Shi’ites.  When Ali, the last of the Prophet’s earliest successors and his own son-in-law, was assassinated, his death ushered in the Umayyad caliphate.

Under Ummayad rule, Islam spread to Spain in the west, throughout the former Sassanid Empire in Persia, and to India in the east. But many hoped for a return of the Prophet’s family to the Caliphate. As early as 718 CE, one of those hopeful voices belonged to a great-grandson of al-‘Abbas, paternal uncle and early supporter of The Prophet. This great-grandson rallied support in Persia to overthrow the Umayyads.

Then a rather mysterious man calling himself Abu Muslim appeared in the city of Marv, about 1500 miles east of Damascus.  He recruited warriors and preached to them that the family of Ali and the Prophet must return to the Caliphate. In 750 CE his forces clashed with the Umayyads on the banks of the Great Zab River in Iraq.  The last Umayyad caliph fled into Egypt, where he was eventually caught and killed.

Abu al-Abbas claimed descent from Mohammed’s paternal uncle and was now proclaimed caliph of Islam.   He was succeeded as caliph by his brother al-Mansur.  Al-Mansur built himself a new capital by 765 CE, which was called Baghdad. Within twenty years, it was the largest, biggest city in the world, the first to reach a population of one million. Baghdad was well-placed to be a major trade center. One of the products sold in its markets was paper. The Abbasids had defeated a Chinese army at what is now Kazakhstan in the year 751.   

Although they had returned to power through support and hopes of the Shi’ites, the Abbasids quickly embraced the Sunnite, or orthodox approach to Islam. Their lavish lifestyles made the Umayyads seem ascetic in comparison. Al-Mansur’s son al-Mahdi introduced Sassanid

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